Marketing the MicroCube: when going home is better than going big

American Wind CMO and VP Daniel B Yost on the challenges of marketing a transformative energy solution

Transcript

American Wind is an energy technology company that has turned the idea of a wind turbine on its head. Traditionally, to get more energy from wind you need to make your turbine bigger. American Wind’s solution: much smaller turbines – called Microcubes – but many more of them, arranged in two metre by three metre Windwalls, generating 100kw each. Because these solutions are more compact, it means they can be closer to the point of energy need, minimising energy lost during transmission. CMO and VP Daniel B Yost explains the company’s target audience, his strategy for establishing American Wind and the MicroCube as a transformative brand, and what sustainability means to the business. In another video, his father Robert Yost explains the technology and inspiration behind the MicroCube.

European CEO: Daniel, what is the market for American Wind? Who’s your target audience?

Daniel B Yost: Really the larger commercial clients and utilities. While we have a lot of applications in the residential and the smaller markets, the commercial market’s where the power is really needed.

Our product is so small and transformative, we’re trying to bring power closer to the people. So really the utilities are the ones that are having to purchase it right now. Or larger companies that want to provide their own power.

European CEO: How do you create a successful brand that is as you say so transformative?

Daniel B Yost: Really you have to create the brand awareness. Our product is different, it’s not the same. It is a wind turbine, but it’s not like any other wind turbine on the market. And it’s not necessarily just our mission of bringing a much smaller product right to where people need it; it’s also the design of our product.

Our product works from 1.5 mph windspeeds to over 140mph wind speeds. When the large wind turbines start, we’ve already been working for hours. And when the wind speed’s gusting into 100mph, they’re shut off; we’re still producing. So we’re getting energy through the whole gamut.

And that’s really the transformative part of it, it’s that we never shut off.

European CEO: You’re wearing your logo here, this rainbow pinwheel…

Daniel B Yost: Yes!

European CEO:…what does that represent?

Daniel B Yost: It’s kind of the childness of the company. It’s very similar to what our product looks like; but at the same time, it’s very young and fresh and playful.

We want to leave a better future for our children. All of our resources on this planet are finite. There is a number of how much is left. And we see our future children, our grandchildren: they might not have those resources. So the sustainability of our product – it will last for 30 years, but it’s completely recyclable. So after 30 years, we can bring that back to our factory, recharge the magnets, send it back out; so you could get 100 years out of our product without any problem. And the goal and the future is that products that can be recycled, and keep using them over and over – instead of just throwing them away after 20 years.

European CEO: Daniel, thank you very much.

Daniel B Yost: Thank you.